EVE General Discussion

If that was the case it would mean that CCP officially allows bots.
Meanwhile why dont you give us your own opinion if this should be allowed or not ?

Since you have the same view as you say CCP has, let me rephrase.
A bot is what it is , not what you or anyone else thinks it is.

And thank you for your opinion.

I multibox but don't use ISboxer. I accept that using ISboxer doesn't "break the rules" but I do think it violates the spirit of the game and as such I'd ban it. I think that multiboxing has enough advantages "as is" without making things easier.

If CCP were genuinely in favour of programs like ISboxer they would have made their own in-game version and made you train up skills to use it. Just because ISboxer doesn't violate the EULA currently doesn't mean that CCP like it either. Given that you pay for the advantage of using multiple characters I expect CCP will introduce a charge or cost for the convenience and advantages over multiboxing that ISboxer has because that's EVE; you want convenience - you pay for it and you can have it.

Coming soon - overmind control system and skillbook or something.

Hello ya'll, hope you're having a good day.

CCP Stillman recently wrote a dev blog about client modifications and our stance towards them. The dev blog also touched on the subject of third-party programs and I feel it is very relevant to the discussion in this thread. I encourage those of you who haven't read it to give it a look, this blog actually makes for great coffeetable reading and those of you who've already indulged may even want to print out your very own copy to share with friends and family!

Multiboxing is not inherently in violation of our EULA, a player is not breaking the EVE game rules by virtue of simultaneously operating multiple accounts alone. Multiboxing software can however be in violation of the EULA.

CCP can and will not officially endorse or condone specific pieces of third-party software and ISBoxer is no exception to this. I will make this very clear: CCP does not officially endorse ISBoxer or any other multiboxing software. Use of third-party programs is, as outlined in Stillman's blog, done entirely at your own risk and we'll quite simply not be able to state outright that this software or that software can be legitimately used under the EVE EULA since they are after all third-party programs.

Let us make an example to illustrate why:

'Hypothetical Software v1.0' is released to the joy of all and is eventually endorsed by CCP as a fine supplement to EVE; the program is officially declared to not be in violation of the EVE EULA/ToS. Some weeks later, the developers of 'Hypothetical Software' releases an update, version 1.1, an update which adds macro mining functionality to the program's existing features. Automating the mining portion of the game is obviously in violation of the EVE EULA so use of 'Hypothetical Software' would suddenly become a EULA violation despite prior endorsement by CCP.

There are a lot of great third-party developers creating fantastic tools to supplement the EVE experience and this is all fine and dandy. As EVE grows, so does the amount of third-party programs developed for EVE and we cannot realistically review and condone these tools on an individual basis and use of such programs is therefore done at your own risk.

We can prohibit and warn against the use of software which we know without a doubt to contain components which violate the EULA. Any program which enables the Autopilot to 0 client modification falls under this for example: if you use a piece of software which enables you to autopilot to 0, you can expect a permanent suspension of your account as you are in gross violation of the EULA.

In addition to CCP Stillman's blog which I linked at the top of this post, I'd also like to bring your attention to the following page which outlines our official policy on third-party programs:
Third-party policies

But why would you want to do that? If multiboxing is valid gameplay, then why limit yourself with how you can multibox?

Managing skill plans is a bit tedious and a lot of players use EveMon to manage their skills. Do you also have a problem with EveMon?

Managing skills is valid gameplay.

Keeping track of a bunch of players is difficult so a lot of people use sites such as evewho.com. Do you have a problem with people who use evewho.com?

Keeping track of other players is valid gameplay.

Keeping track of market prices is difficult so a lot of people use market web sites to get market information. Do you have a problem with market web sites?

Watching market prices is valid gameplay.

The in game map doesn't have all the information people would like it to have so they use sites such as dotlan. Do you have a problem with dotlan?

Looking at the map is valid gameplay.

Managing ship fitting is difficult so a lot of people use ship fitting software such as EFT? Do you have a problem with 3rd party ship fitting tools?

Managing ship fittings if valid gameplay.

I think the real problem here is you want multiboxing to be hard because you just don't like multiboxing. Well you are entitled to your opinion, but I will state it again:

Multiboxing is valid gameplay.

Thanks for clarification here!

You look familiar... anyway....

Clearly these people have not seen the commercials where a guy creates a contraption to check multiple travel sites at once.

I could setup 10 computers and setup a special mouse setup where everytime I click a button on the master mouse 10 buttons are clicked.

ISboxer simply lets people do the same without all the silly mechanical devices cluttering up our rooms. Just like the hammer that nails 40 nails.

…that they cannot officially say that any given third-party software is in compliance with their EULA. This is not the same thing as saying all third-party software breaks the rules. They can be pretty specific about which software most definitely isn't allowed, because its functionality inherently goes against the EULA, but that's something completely different.

So no, they really haven't.

Basically CCP said, it's ok to use as it stands now, but nothing stops the owner from releasing an update that contains code breaking the EULA.
If you then update and use it, you are breaking the EULA and CCP will ban you for using it, this will be harder to do when CCP first said they endorsed the program, that is why they don't.

Let say CCP officially endorses this program, and ISboxer releases an update that breaks the EULA, then you are arguably safe to use this program, as long CCP doesn't officially state ISboxer is no longer officially endorsed because it now breaks the EULA.

Just facts now:

Nobody got banned from using isboxer yet, many people claimed to use it, so at this exact time, it hasn't been considered against the EULA YET, and it MIGHT never be.

I dont think using ISBoxer or similar tools is immoral. If something is allowed it consequently is also moral. There is no excuse not to use the tools that are given you to progress in the game or, on a larger scale in live.
However I do believe CCP should forbid the use of multiboxing software, because in my believe it adds a feature to the game that is rather silly and has bad influence on the economy. In my opinion, Eve would be a better game without multiboxing, because those players would have to think more on better applied tactics and not on buying a stronger computer and rush an npc site with 10 ships.

Its just, to me it doesnt feel like *playing* Eve anymore, but rather like a very gross circumvention of game mechanics.

So please CCP, rethink your stance towards multiboxing and ban those programs in the future.